A positive spin on a crappy situation

I've been making a pretty big deal of my shitar situation lately. Out of this mess, though, has come a very positive result - I'm now ready to customize my Strat.

What this situation has done is remove the sanctity of the Strat. When I get a new guitar, it takes on an air of wholeness. It's a pristine example of factory goodness, a sealed unit, a black box. In other words, I don't want to screw with it. It's probably a reflection of my personality as well. When it comes to anything - cars, computers, cell phones, even houses - I don't like to mess with them because I don't want to mess them up. I think it's my fear that once it's messed up I won't be able to put it back the way it was. I'm the same way with computer code, too - if it works I don't want to alter it too much in case it stops working and I can't fix it. It usually takes some kind of outside force to change it in some way as to remove that "black box" quality and make it OK for me to get my hands dirty and make some serious changes.

For guitars, it usually takes the first ding, dent or scratch to remove the factory glow and make it mine. In this case, it was the first serious dirtying. It's no longer a perfect specimen - it's just a guitar, my guitar, and there's more I want to do to it to really make it mine. In the case of my Strat, I want to rewire it so I can have a tone control on the bridge pickup. I also want to get a black pickguard to make it look more Gilmour-esque. I may try to set up the tremolo again, but since I'm really enjoying it as a hardtail, I'll probably wait a while on that. Heck, I may just buy a replacement tremolo from GuitarFetish.com and see if it works any better.

The nice thing about these mods is that none of them are expensive. The rewiring is basically free, except I have to get a soldering iron, but still they aren't a lot of money. A new pickguard is less than 20 bucks, shipping included. Even the tremolo won't cost more than $40. In other words, they're all economical ways to make my Strat more than just a typical Mexican Standard Stratocaster.

I can't wait to get started!

Shitar update

If anyone remembers and/or read this post they know that my beloved Stratocaster was tainted by the poop of one little Westie. At the end of that post, I wondered if I'd ever feel the same about it, or if I'd always wonder if I was playing on a pile of crap, thus pushing me to play one of my other guitars and relegating the Strat to closet duty.

I'm happy to say that, for the most part, the shitar stigma has gone away and the Strat (I really have to come up with a name for it) has once again taken its place at the top of my little guitar heap. The other day, I had to put all of my guitars away as part of a remodeling project (I didn't want to get tan paint on my Fenders) and when it came time to put everything back and bring out a guitar to play, I reached for...Blackie? No, that's Clapton's Strat. I'll think of something to call it. Anyway, I brought out my Strat. It now holds its place alone on the dual guitar stand as my go-to guitar. I love all my guits, but he's my #1. He? Is it male or female? Hmm...

I'll come up with something. I think.

Prog backlash?

Before I discovered the 90s neo-prog movement, I discovered another band that are legendary in their Canadian homeland but only have a small cult following in the states - The Tragically Hip.

In my opinion, the Hip really didn't hit their stride until their third album, Fully Completely. In fact, it's so good that it makes a strong case for the title of Best Album You've Never Heard Of. Before that, they were a twangy, roadhouse-style bar band, and although they had some good songs on their first two albums, they don't compare to Fully Completely, or to what they put out afterward.

I only bring this up because lately I've had a peculiar urge to listen to their second album, Road Apples. It's strange because not only is it not my favorite Hip album, it's not even in the top 5. It's not that it's a bad album per se, but it's still from their twang era, even though the writing is much stronger than their first album, Up To Here. Being an analytical guy, I'm intrigued by this puzzle and want to figure out why this sudden urge appeared. The only thing I can think of it that it's some kind of backlash from all the prog I've been listening to lately.

I love progressive rock. It's complex music featuring long-form suites, heady lyrics and dazzling instrumental performances. It's also a lot to take in. Sure there are some shorter, simpler songs - "June" from Spock's Beard comes to mind - but for the most part, listening to prog is as much a mental exercise as it is an enjoyable experience. It's this complexity, though, that I think lead to this sudden urge for cleaner, simpler music.

Not that the Hip are simple. They're definitely a more traditional rock band, but they're also known for singer Gord Downie's rather cryptic lyrics, one reason why I really like them. They also continually evolve their sound with each album, experimenting with new sonic palettes in the context of traditional rock, another reason why I like them. Perhaps that's why I'm drawn to Road Apples now - it represents their early sound, before it evolved past country-tinged, smoky-bar rock. I think my brain is, in its own way, asking for a break from all the complex prog so it can just relax and enjoy the music.

Time to fire up Media Player and cue up Road Apples. Who am I to ignore a request from my brain?

Decreased guitar time = fewer blog posts

This blog will probably be a little thin for the next few weeks. The content of this blog rests largely on my guitar playing, at least at this point in my musical journey, and I'm just not going to have a lot of time in the coming weeks to play.

My wife and I are embarking on a house face lift project as we prepare to sell our old house in preparation for the move to our new house. My guitar time will be seriously compromised. Take this weekend, for instance. All the time I would've spent practicing was used to paint the master bedroom and bathroom. Next weekend, it'll be the upstairs hallway and second bathroom. Then the two back bedrooms the following weekend. And so on until the whole house goes from rental white (the original paint color) to realtor beige (as our agent calls it). Even during the week I won't have much guitar time. After work today, I have to get the master bedroom and bath back to some kind of normal state, which means I'll be spending my time pulling off masking tape, touching up the trim and moving the furniture back to where it belongs.

Am I upset? Not really. Sure I love playing and I'll miss my guitar time, but sometimes life throws you something more important (or at least more timely) and priorities shift. After these next few hectic weeks, I'll have plenty of time to practice again, and I'll be able to do it from my nice new home. Sacrificing some guitar time is a small price to pay for being able to say that.

So for my three or four loyal readers, there may be a noticeable lack of posts for the next few weeks. Don't worry, though. Once I'm back to my regular playing time I'll be boring the Internet with all sorts of blog posts again.

R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Just found out today that Alex Chilton died yesterday of an apparent heart attack at age 59. Many of you probably don't know who he is, and the sad thing is, if it wasn't for a stroke of pure luck, I wouldn't know who he is either, and that would be a shame.

One day I was perusing the Web and stumbled onto AllMusic.com. Their "Album of the Day" was something I've never seen before. The album cover was a neon sign depicting a star with the word "big" inside. Intrigued, I clicked through and found out it was Big Star's first album, #1 Record. After reading the glowing review and researching the band, I realized I had to hear what they sounded like, so I got #1 Record, along with their second album, Radio City. I read that discovering Big Star's music is a life-changing event - you will forever date your musical tastes as being pre-Big Star and post-Big Star - and after hearing both albums, I have to agree.

Big Star is the great lost American rock band. Formed by Chilton and Chris Bell in Memphis, they set out to become the next Lennon-McCartney, recording music that, as AllMusic.com said, was both out of date and ahead of its time. Chilton was already soured on the music industry, having been the lead singer of the Box Tops and seeing how the industry used the band for its own purposes. Unfortunately, nothing in the history of Big Star would change his mind - both Big Star records, while critically acclaimed, were held back due to record industry issues and never reached the audience they deserved. The band broke up after two albums, with a third being issued much later - the songs were recorded but the album never completed. You can do the research on your own, but they're pretty much one of the best bands that almost were.

Chilton's music was paradoxically brilliant. It was sad yet hopeful, simple yet poignant, and it was all wrapped up in a style that was the complete opposite of the type of big, arena-rock sound that was prevalent at the time. Bands like R.E.M. and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cite Big Star as an influence. I implore anyone who's intrigued by Big Star to pick up #1 Record and Radio City. You won't regret it.

Rest in peace, Alex. I'll be blasting #1 Record through my headphones at work today, just for you.

(NOTE: The picture I added on top is one I found somewhere on the Internet. I liked it because he's playing the exact same model of guitar I own, except mine's black. I don't know where I got it. I'm not trying to infringe on copyrights, so I'm going to assume it's OK to use.)

The story of the shitar

I got a new couch last Friday. I love it. The whole thing reclines. It gives "couch potato" a whole new dimension.

This story is not about the couch.

It's about what I had to go through to get it.

The couch was being delivered that afternoon. In preparation, my wife and I moved our dogs upstairs so they would be out of the way when the delivery men came. We have four dogs. None of them are very big. Three of them spend their days in crates while the wife and I are at work, both for their sake and the sake of everything we hold dear. So on Friday morning before work, I carried three crates upstairs to our back room, put the dogs in, said goodbye and went to work.

Our back room is our multi-purpose room. It's where we keep our computers, our exercise equipment and, yes, my guitar stuff. In one corner of the room, I have my amp underneath an old end table with my computer and assorted crap on it (it actually looks like it's meant to be used that way) next to a dual guitar stand with one guitar facing back toward the wall and another facing forward. That day, I had my beloved Strat on the stand facing outward. I lined up the three crates in front of the guitar area along the wall (actually a closet door) as that was the only place in the room that had enough real estate to hold them all.

It turned out to be my fatal mistake.

Life with Hal - Book One

It's officially been two weeks since I started going through the Hal Leonard guitar books and I've finished book one, so I think it's time for an update. These are the same books that I used when I started my guitar lessons 25 years ago. I bought them again because the books and I had some unfinished business. Also, I'm weak on the fundamentals.

How's it been?

Surprisingly fun. I wish I would've had this mindset back when I was 11. I would be a much better guitar player now, and who knows? Maybe I'd be making some kind of living playing music. But, my life worked out very well anyway, time only moves forward, and all I can do is start from right now and become the best guitarist I can until old age takes it away. These books will help.

DeQuervain's Syndrome - A real pain in the thumb

Atari killed my thumbs.

I came to this realization yesterday afternoon when I was on a walk with a coworker. I was explaining to him the problem I have with my thumbs - DeQuervain's Syndrome - and I started thinking back to when I first noticed it. My thoughts took me back to my childhood, when I would play Atari (and later Commodore 64, which used Atari joysticks) games for hours on end.

It made more sense when I thought about the ergonomics of the old Atari joysticks - one stick, one thumb button on the upper left corner.

Why?

You see, I have it worse in my left hand. The trigger hand. Pressing that trigger thousands of times a day did more damage than I thought.

How to (not) make sure you never write anything

I want to write music. That's one of the main reasons why I got back into this in the first place. My ultimate goal, as anyone who reads my blog knows by now (all five of you), is to record my own stuff. Prog stuff. That's progressive rock to those who are uninitiated (follow this link to learn more).

Unfortunately for me, progressive rock is complex. It's one of the reasons why I like it so much. Progressive rock musicians are known for being virtuosos on their respective instruments, and since I'm not, it kinda throws a wrench in the works. Probably explains why I haven't written anything yet.

Correction: I did write a cool riff the other day. Even wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it.

Even though I haven't written a *complete* song by now, I think about it a lot. I try to write things in my head, and even though I usually forget them, it gives me an opportunity to break down the style I want to use for my own songs. I had an epiphany the other day when I noticed something about my thought process - I'm imagining songs that are way too complex.

I gotta start posting more

I got a complaint today from the wife. I guess it wasn't really a complaint as much as it was a strong suggestion. She said, "I check your blog every day, but you haven't updated it since March 1."

I took that as a hint.

Last month I decided to change my posting schedule to have one full-length feature post each week on Monday mornings and then do other, shorter posts during the week as things came up. I've been doing OK with the features, but I've been a little lax in the other ones. And I wonder why I only get one page hit some days.

So today, I make a proclamation: I shall endeavour to make more blog posts during the week. And yes, the British spelling of "endeavour" was on purpose. I figured it would look more official.

Back to basics

While reminiscing about my first foray into guitar lessons I mistakenly thought the book I used was a Mel Bay guitar book. I recently figured out that it was, in fact, a Hal Leonard book. How do I know that?

I just bought it again this weekend.

To be more accurate, I bought the fully bound, three-books-in-one version with a CD for each book. Back then I just had book one with no CD. In fact, I don't even think CDs were widely available back when I first started taking lessons. Yes, I'm old.

So why would I go and buy the same book that I used as an 11-year-old when I'm obviously advanced beyond it? Well, I'm not as advanced as some may think. Sure, the book is very rudimentary, but it's those rudiments that I'm missing. On the plus side it means that I don't have to struggle with the mechanics - I already have the ability to stretch my fingers to form a G chord - and I can focus on what's missing, which is theory and sight reading.

What I like about this book - and why I bought it over other books that teach the same things but in a "modern" way - is that there's no tablature to cheat with. If I want to play along, I have to read music. The only way I'll read music is if I'm forced to read it. My other book, Scales over Chords, is an excellent book and I've learned a lot from it, but it's noted in standard notation and tablature and I always find myself reading the tab and not the notes. If I want to learn to read music, and I do, I need to be forced into it. There's no other way.

As for the book itself, it's not much different than what I remember from 25 years ago, except it's been updated a bit. For example, the picture used to demonstrate how to hold an electric guitar shows a fairly modern looking guy holding a Stratocaster, while the old book had a picture of a guy who looked like he stepped right out of Bill Haley and His Comets, complete with suit and tie, holding a Gibson ES-355. There's also a section on "Alternative Rock" which I'm sure wasn't included in my older version. Other than that, it's pretty much the same, with the same organization and musical pieces (I can't wait to learn "Greensleeves").

I'm having fun with it so far. The aforementioned rudimentariness of the exercises means I can get through them quickly - I got through the open notes of the high E, B and G strings in one day, as opposed to the month it took me as an 11-year-old. I'm jazzed that I'm actually reading music, as simple as it is. I also feel like I have unfinished business with this book. I stopped my lessons without even getting through book one, so this time I want to finish what I started all those years ago. Then I'll move back to Scales over Chords knowing I have the rudiments covered and by then I should be a much better player. I hope.

I'll let you know if it works.